As an illustrator for McDonnell Douglas in the 1980s and ’90s, artist Don Roth honed his skills by painting and sketching intricate interiors of aircraft in the hopes of selling them to potential buyers. As a fine artist in 2013, Roth uses the same precise techniques to create whimsical scenes of animals — with the same outcome, he hopes.

After accepting an early retirement in 1999, Roth knew he wanted to pursue fine art professionally, but was at a loss when it came to subject matter. After a Huntington Beach gallery owner suggested that he target tourists with typical Southern California scenes of surfers, woodies and colorful sunsets, Roth was uncertain about becoming one of the masses.

“I went home and said to my wife that if I was going to be just one of many doing the same thing, I didn’t think we were going to have much of a shot,” Roth said during a recent phone interview. “Then she looked over at our cat sitting there, and she said I should paint a picture of Leo driving a woody. I looked at her like she had a screw loose.”

But Roth was up for anything and proceeded to paint his cat driving a woody — the first work in what has become a 36-piece series depicting household pets in humorous situations, such as driving a stagecoach or skateboarding down a staircase handrail.

Though Roth was not the first artist to work in pet portraiture, his experience with aviation art proved beneficial in standing out from the pack.

“Realism was drilled into me for 15 years. It was my technique, and I couldn’t really break out,” he said. “There were a lot of people doing pet portraits that were sort of cartoonish, but mine all looked like photos. People even asked me how I got my cat to sit still and hold on to the steering wheel long enough to take a picture.”

Known by his fans as the Norman Rockwell of cats, Roth hopes that his work will expand the minds of those who think that enjoying art is just for the stuffy elite.

“Art is a subjective thing,” Roth said. “I think we’ve been brainwashed by art critics to believe or have the notion that art is a very serious thing, and you should buy so-and-so’s painting because it will be a valuable investment, et cetera. My work is more for the everyman. It’s whimsical. It’s fun. It’s something you put up in Johnny’s bedroom because it makes him smile.”

A Menifee resident, Roth is familiar to Inland Empire residents as an art instructor for the city of Temecula’s community service classes. After years of showing his students’ work at the Gallery at The Merc in Old Town, the city offered him the opportunity to show his own work at the venue from Friday through April 5.

An exhibit kick-off reception will be held Friday evening, when the public can meet the artist while he gets to enjoy their reactions to his work.

“It’s sort of my claim to fame that my work is very informal and will put a smile on anybody’s face, no matter how bad of a mood you’re in,” Roth said.